Memory foam mattress covers

[Edit. This post asked two very different questions, so I split it into two threads. This is the first half. The second half, regarding campground costs, is here.

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=10840

Bill]
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Well, I just finished reading a very fine and informative long post (up till 2 AM this morning) Just like a good book you couldn't put down. I am new to all of this. Thinking of purchasing a 2619 TM (would prefer a larger one but don't have right TV for it)

My biggest concern and question is this. I am 68 yrs. old with a very bad back worsened by extensive chemo, and need a very comfortable mattress to sleep on in order to not be in pain the next day. (My son will lift the camper up and with a little help from me perhaps) I know the current provided mattress would not do the trick for me, so that would require a good thick memory foam mattress topper and maybe a couple of those egg crate covers to boot, to make the sleeping thing doable.

Two questions: In my reading last night this subject was mentioned, and it was stated that trying to use a memory top will not fit the latches and could damage them in the gliders. I can't comprehend this. Why would a memory foam topper have to be within latches. Wouldn't it just sit on top of your current mattress without confinement?

Second question: Since you can't leave a memory foam top on the bed when you close the TM up, is there room on the floor (say in a large black contractor bag) to leave it while your traveling in a 2619 (smallest unit)

Bill]

[gmferg]

With the shells collapsed, there is limited clearance between the top of the mattress and the ceiling of the shell. It varies with model and year of TM. I can tell you with our 2008 2619, there is no clearance above the rear bed and rear half of front bed. The rear shell folds down first and the front shell folds down on top of the rear shell. The florescent lights on the rear shell actually press into the OEM mattresses slightly. Since the rear shell only covers half of the front bed, there is more headroom for the front half, probably about 6-8"

We added a 2" memory foam and 1" egg crate all contained in a zippered cover. For the rear bed it has to be totally removed and folded up on the floor. For the front bed, we simply fold the topper in half towards the front and leave it in the bed. This places the topper in the extra space that is ahead of the rear shell and below the front shell.

As you have probably already read in the other posts on the subject, some people have gone the route of an aerobed replacing the OEM matress. This has to be deflated every time you fold up.

[ShrimpBurrito]

We have a 2" memory foam mattress topper on the original factory mattress on the rear bed, and are able to close the shell with a fitted sheet, loose sheet, and thin blanket on top, but just barely.

There is plenty of room inside the TM to store the memory foam when off the bed during storage. It just becomes a pain to put it on and take it off, especially if you are on a long road trip and setting up in a new place every night or 2.

Dave

[Bill]

Originally Posted by modhatter

As cost is a factor for us, and I want this unit for long halls from southern Florida to Arizona to Colorado and back, I don't want to have to stop at expensive RV parks every night on route. Are there many parks available with just electrical hook up (as opposed to total dry boon docking) at a reasonable cost? What kind of cost? Do they usually require reservations way in advance (instead of being able to wing it as you go)

Are they usually far off the main highways when your trying to get somewhere using the major highway system? It is certainly worth it to me to drive out of my way a bit to find a pretty more natural setting to spend the night at, as opposed to some of the RV (full service) places I have seen. Better scenery as well as cost savings. I know we would have to break up our trip and stay at a FS RV park to dump and fill up our water supply and recharge battery etc, but I thought we could limit that to maybe every third night for that purpose.

There are two answers. To address your question, you need to decide on a night-by-night basis what kind of amenities you want. My experience is this. My wife and I make the long haul from Maine to Colorado to Arizona every fall, and back again in the spring. During this long haul, we do a few hundred miles each day, and at the end of the day, we want the comfort and ease of full hookups. Scenery doesn't matter much because we are mostly going to eat and sleep - we arn't going to stay to admire the campground or the scenery. We find campgrounds by using the Big Book of Campgrounds (Good Sam publishes one, Woodall's publishes the other, both about $12.) About an hour before we are ready to stop, we figure out where we will be, find a campground in the book, and call ahead. I don't think we've ever been stranded - Good Sam and KOA seem to be everywhere. And yes, full hookup campgrounds cost a few bucks more, but one always seems to be available near an Interstate, so that is where we end up staying. At the end of a long day, it just doesn't seem worthwhile to drive an extra 45 minutes (at 14 mpg) to save a few bucks, and to stay a scenic campground where we won't notice the scenery.

On the other hand, when we camp from our base in Maine (summer) or Arizona (winter), we want an experience that is very different from the long-haul experience. We do leisurely trips to State Parks, National Parks, BLM campgrounds, etc. We will be parked in the same place for several days, we want pretty, and we want quiet. Hookups are much less important. And costs are lower.

Now please, no meanies lecturing me that if I am concerned with costs, I shouldn't be an RV'er.

No one here will say that! Many of us are retired and on fixed incomes, and costs are important. In my particular case, you will find many of my posts admitting flat out that "I am cheap!" So welcome to the club, and enjoy whatever you decide to do.

Hope this helps.

Bill

[ThePair]

We replaced our mattress with a 3.5 inch combo (foam on the bottom, memory foam on top. It is much more comfortable than the stock, and we can still close down with the sheet and a blanket (folded off the head side due to the florescent fixture as mentioned above.)

Some have replaced the mattress entirely with an aerobed, which seems even better, but I don't want to inflate/deflate each time. There's one couple that put in a Select Comfort mattress. I think they stated that they needed to take that off and put it in the aisle to close, but I'm not certain. Select Comfort now makes mattresses that collapse completely, for use in sofa-beds. If you could get one of those in the proper dimensions, I'd wager that you could deflate it and leave it in place, much like the aerobed, but with more comfort when in use. There's a similar product called "Air Dream" that might do the trick as well, but I've not seen one in person.

The Select Comfort that we have at home has a foam channel around the perimeter of it. While the mattress will collapse when air is removed, the form will not, which I assume will prevent proper closing of the TM. That is the main reason we went the AeroBed route. It is comfortable, and when used with a Travasak (might not be made any more, but other sleeping bag type things could probably be found) everything can be left in place and just deflated. I don't find the inflation/deflation routine to be a problem at all...it takes less than a minute. Assuming you have a source of 110 power!

I have slept on aero beds before and they are reasonably comfortable. In fact way back when my back started getting bad and I checked into my usual extended stay motel I usually staiyed at while visiting my store, I found the bed just too hard to sleep on anymore. Well, I had already paid for the week (in fact two weeks) so I went out to the store and bought an aero bed a plopped it right on top of the regular mattress.

You should have seen the maids face when she walked in the room and saw this, along with my little step stool I also had to buy to get on it. She didn't speak English, so it was hard trying to explain it to her.